Should Students in Primary Schools Learn Computer Science?

Primary Schools Teach Computer Science

UK Primary Schools (K-12) Computing at School Working Group (CAS),

Google and Microsoft

Why A Change? Especially in the UK Change in the overall school system ICT and Computing

Networking and IT work (vocational) Simon Peyton-Jones Michael Gove’s speech

Almost every field depends on technology Bill Gates warned for the need of children to

understand computer programming

Michael Gove “It's clear that technology is going to bring profound changes to how and what we teach. But it's equally clear that we have not yet managed to make the most of it.”

Why Should Common People Know Computing

Technology is present almost everywhere you go Most job’s use technology in some way Use of an employee to do a simple program

instead of hiring a temp outside the company. Someone will need help at sometime. “Twenty years ago, medicine was not an

information technology. Now, genomes have been decoded and the technologies of biological engineering and synthetic biology are transforming medicine. The boundary between biology and IT is already blurring into whole new fields, like bio-informatics.” -Gove

STEM Discipline Long Term Value

A Body of Knowledge A Set of Techniques & Methods A way of Thinking & Working

Own Theoretical Foundations Involves logic & reasoning Scientific approach Wide Range of Technologies

Provides insight into other STEM Disciplines

What Should they Teach? Microsoft Office Real CS

Data Representation Communication Abstraction & Design Languages, machines, & Computation

What Would be the Standards A-Level computing

18-16 year olds Ending Goals (by Key Stages)

Algorithms: what it is, what it can be used for. Programs: design, write, run and debug

executable programs in at least one language How computers represent and transport data. Components that make up a computer system

Which Languages? Scratch or Mindstorm Like Java, Python, C++ A mathematics language How do we choose a language to start kids

out on?

Is it Possible? Teachers

Why would they want to teach What would be a standard curriculum

Raspberry Pi Would the material be valid? Compared to taking a foreign language

It helps Should not be mandatory.

Pros and Cons Help Teach Math &

Logic Inspire more

students to take CS to a degree level.

CS represents fundamental knowledge of the world like math or physics or geography

What Languages Lack of CS Teachers Too Vocational